Chapter 74: Contractual Vow Ritual

For close to an hour, Julius and Aubrey took turns trying out their new techniques. Aubrey had made an interesting discovery herself. She found out that the same way she was able to infuse her clones with her aura could be used in another way as well. It took a lot more aura and concentration but she was able to give the clones a more realistic feeling to them.

Julius could still tell the difference thanks to [Spatial Perception], but it wasn’t as easy as before.

Julius on the other hand had been trying to find a way to make his constructs more tough. [Mana Layering] had helped a lot, but he still had trouble making them sturdy enough. It didn’t matter how many layers he had if each layer was easily broken apart. He felt like his layers were made of dried pasta when he smashed them into her arms.

He did see some progress with leveling his skills though.

[Empowerment of Will lvl 6 -> lvl 7]

[Mana Layering lvl 7 -> lvl 9]

However, seeing Aubrey use her aura to give her clones a weighty presence gave him an idea. His new skill [Empowerment of Will] had kind of worked on [Savage Dance] but he hadn’t had the time to try it on his other skills yet. He wondered how the skill would affect [Arcane Construct] and [Pure Compression].

“Hey Aubrey, I want to try something else if that’s alright,” Julius let her know beforehand.

Aubrey dissipated her clones and asked, “What are you thinking about?”

“I want to see if I can use my aura skill to enhance my constructs,” Julius said.

“I don’t know why you are trying to create constructs for close combat. Your long-range attacks are deadly enough, and fire mana is not known for its defensive properties. You might be better off focusing on mage skills. You certainly have the mana capacity and control for it,” Aubrey told him.

“You don’t think that I should be learning how to fight up close and instead specialize as a mage?”

“No, you should definitely learn how to fight in close combat. I have been trying to convince Lily for years and Derek is a perfect example of being a mage but not being limited to long-range combat.” Aubrey pointed to the other side of the room where Derek, Kyle, and Edgar were all training together. “He has a perfect lightning affinity that he uses primarily at range but he is also one of the better spear users in the school. However, stretching yourself too thin is not realistic.”

“What do you suggest?” Julius asked her.

“I think you need to figure out a better way to defend yourself. I would recommend a movement skill that doesn’t allow your opponent to hit you. Fire, kinetic, or life are not known for their defensive specialties,” Aubrey put out there.

“I usually use my healing skill, which kind of acts as a defensive skill. But it’s not as useful if I am wearing these bracelets,” Julius said.

“It doesn’t matter, having a movement skill is still very important, especially in the later stages,” she explained.

Julius didn’t know how he would go about learning a movement skill like she said. Aubrey could switch places with her clones and had a monstrous defense. Julius didn’t have either and would like to learn a skill like [Instantaneous Step] or something similar.

“Professor Keller said that he had a spatial movement skill called [Instantaneous Step], he said it was a popular skill. How would I go about getting a spatial skill like that?” Julius asked.

“It would require specialized training. It is an evolved form of the skill [Quick Step] but I am not sure what the requirements are after that. I would ask Professor Keller if you are interested.”

Julius would make sure that when he saw him next or the next time they sparred he would ask Gabriel for more details. He thought that a skill like that would be very useful because Aubrey was right, Julius needed to have a better movement skill. Blasting kinetic energy through his feet was only going to get him so far.

However, he still wanted to try out his idea with [Empowerment of Will], but before he could, Lily called out that she was finished with her preparations. Both of them dropped what they were doing and headed over to Lily. The other guys also must’ve heard Lily because they were also making their way over.

The ritual Lily had set up was a complicated design of runes and threads of mana, as well as something else. He didn’t know exactly what it was, but it was the same violet energy that Lily had used before at the cafeteria to prevent Aubrey from blabbering her secrets.

Julius was very impressed with how fast Lily was able to set it all up. When Derek said it was a complex ritual, Julius didn’t know what to expect. Now that he could see it, he was appreciating and realizing how difficult it really was. He was very glad Lily was able to do something like this because otherwise, Julius didn’t think he would share his secrets.

A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

However, he was also getting impatient. Declan hadn’t found anything about House Hyperius but he was hoping one of them knew something.

Lily had them all gathered around. “I need to connect everyone who is going to go through with the ritual. I installed an option that allows one party to have as many individuals as needed, and another party, which would be Julius.”

“What do you need us to do?” Edgar asked.

“Those who want to participate, stand in that circle,” she pointed at a runic circle off the side. “Then, just hold still for a few moments.”

Much to Julius’s surprise every one of them without hesitation went over to the circle. He didn’t think that they were so eager to go through with this.

Once Lily was all finished making sure they were keyed into the ritual she had Julius stand on one end and the rest of them on the other. She had all of them say a vow out loud. It was a generic vow that basically stated that they would not divulge any of Julius’s secrets to anyone or anywhere.